I'm a Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute in London, a writer here and there on this and that and strangely, one of the global experts on the metal scandium, one of the rare earths. An odd thing to be but someone does have to be such and in this flavour of our universe I am. I have written for The Times, Daily Telegraph, Express, Independent, City AM, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer and online for the ASI, IEA, Social Affairs Unit, Spectator, The Guardian, The Register and Techcentralstation. I've also ghosted pieces for several UK politicians in many of the UK papers, including the Daily Sport.

The Apple Boycott Graphically Explained

Following on from this piece about the proposed or mooted boycott of Apple over conditions at Foxconn in China, I am grateful to Paul Arnett for providing us with this graphic visualisation of the argument. I do not claim, by any means, that the numbers are all perfectly accurate. But they are the ones being used from the Chinese side to justify a boycott and the others are the best I have found. Context is one of those important things.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

@darlieb, 14 suicides by May of 2010 at Foxconn’s factory in Longhua which employs between 300,000 and 400,000 people. So extrapolating over 12 months, that makes for a suicide rate of between 8.4 and 11.2 per 100,000 p.a. which is lower than China (13.9), the USA (11.2), MIT undergrads (18.1).

Counting the 150 workers who *threatened* to jump off the roof in protest at low pay at the factory making Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is downright dishonest.

“Counting the 150 workers who *threatened* to jump off the roof in protest at low pay at the factory making Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is downright dishonest.”

We are talking about Foxconn conditions, WHO CARES WHAT THEY ARE MAKING AT THAT VERY SECOND! THEY WORK ON ALL THE PRODUCTS! What exactly is “dishonest” about counting in all the employees that attempt or threaten suicide a slave factory. AND THERE ARE NO STATISTICS FOR CHINESE SUICIDE! That makes both you and Tim liars.

Over the years, it’s been said that the worst kind of lies are statistics. Arnett’s chart perfectly illustrates this. First, consider the source. Neither Apple nor Foxconn will allow independent researchers full and free access to their facilities in China. And so, we’re supposed to take their word on the supposedly low suicide rate and fatal workplace injuries. You betcha!

Second, consider what the source of the statistics does in practice. Foxconn puts nets in place to prevent suicides and threatens workers with the loss of benefits to their survivors. This hardly seems necessary if things are just wonderful for their workers.

Third, consider what the workers say for themselves. They describe how they live in the modern version of an industrial sweatship with long hours, poor working conditions and dangers to their health. Reports from independent groups like SACOM describe in detail how bad it is to work in Foxconn’s facilities.

Fourth, consider who benefits if we buy what Apple and Foxconn have to say about their workers. Do the workers? No. According to their employers, things are pretty darn good already for their wokers. Do Foxconn and Apple benefit? You betcha! Moving production overseas was a good deal of the reason why Jobs could leave billions to his family.

Lastly, we should remember that we’ve already had discussions like this in our history. Prior to the Civil War, it was not uncommon for slaveowners to argue that “in context” that blacks were better off as slaves than in remaining free in Africa. They received food, water, clothing, housing and medical care and were taken care of after they were too old or infirm to work. I suspect that there may be some who still think that a valid kind of argument. However, I would like to think that we can do better than using the tired “in context” argument to justify abusing people.

Those who blame Apple for moving offshore should realize that the entire industry is offshore. It also needs to be repeated that Apple is only one of Foxconn’s customers. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, HP, Dell, Asus, Microsoft X-box, Playstation, Wii etc.etc. In fact Apple is about 1/4 (but growing) of Foxconn’s business, and are the most proactive in addressing workers issues. The media would do better to focus on the foot dragging majority of electronics sellers, rather than on Apple.